According to the TV ad analytics company iSpot.tv, more Super Bowl ads and teaser videos are being watched on Facebook than on YouTube so far this year.

In data sent to Marketing Land counting video views through Tuesday (February 2), the company says there have been 75 million Super Bowl ad video views on Facebook, compared to 74.9 million on YouTube. Last year at this time, iSpot.tv says YouTube had a big lead in video views — 87.6 million to 45.5 million.

Chart created with AMCharts.com.

There’s been a battle going on over video views between Facebook and YouTube, and it includes last year’s Super Bowl. Shortly after the game, Visible Measures shared data showing that Facebook earned 25 percent of all Super Bowl commercial views online. YouTube took exception to the suggestion that its dominance of online video viewing was in jeopardy. Two days later, YouTube said it was still the king of Super Bowl commercial viewing online and that time spent watching Super Bowl ads had already surpassed time watching in all of the previous calendar year.

One of the challenges in making an apples-to-oranges comparison is how video views are counted. Facebook very generously counts a view when a user watches at least three seconds of video. On YouTube, a view is “around” 30 seconds, the company says.

But for the record, iSpot.tv says it uses the three-second standard for counting both Facebook and YouTube views.

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About The Author

Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.